Eric M.Steinert

Partner

Eric represents employers in a wide range of state and federal employment law disputes.


More About Eric

Eric has defended large, complex class actions involving alleged wage-and-hour violations under both state and federal law. Eric also represents employers in single-plaintiff litigation involving wrongful discharge, discrimination, retaliation, and harassment claims—including extensive experience with various whistleblower claims (including Sarbanes-Oxley).

Eric is also an experienced employment mediator, handling fee-based mediations for private parties and court panels. Eric is also an arbitrator, providing private arbitration services as well as serving as a financial services industry arbitrator for FINRA.

Eric is co-chair of the firm’s Financial Services practice group. He focuses on representing financial-services clients in FINRA arbitrations, wage-and-hour class actions, and single-plaintiff employment litigation (particularly whistleblower cases). Eric has also worked as in-house counsel in the financial services industry, managing litigation and advising various lines of business, including retail brokerage, wealth management, retail, wholesale, and commercial banking, mortgage and consumer finance, and insurance.

Eric has traditional labor experience which includes union-organizing campaigns, collective bargaining negotiations, arbitrations, representation cases, and defending ULP charges before the NLRB. He also advises clients on labor relations matters pertaining to corporate campaigns, labor disputes, contract interpretation, and negotiations. Eric has experience in ERISA litigation, representing ERISA plans in breach of fiduciary duty litigation, as well as fraud claims under the California Insurance Frauds Prevention Act.

Eric also provides advice and counsel with respect to state and federal wage-and-hour laws, leave and disability issues, WARN requirements, employee termination issues, and drafting employee handbooks, policies, and employment contracts.

Eric has written and lectured on various employment law topics, including CLE panels on legal ethics, wage and hour litigation, traditional labor and disability law. He is a former law clerk for District Court Judge Lawrence T. Lydick of the US District Court, Central District of California, Southern Division, and served as the law clerk for the Central District Local Rules Committee.

  • JD, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
  • BA, Rice University

    Cum laude

  • Universitat Heidelberg, Germany
  • California
  • US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
  • US District Court, Central District of California
  • US District Court, Eastern District of California
  • US District Court, Northern District of California
  • US District Court, Southern District of California